Nintendo Japan now recognises domestic gay partnerships, despite Japan’s stance

In Nintendo’s latest Corporate Social Responsibility report, it was announced that Nintendo is officially recognising gay domestic partnerships. It’s a big deal, considering that it was only a few weeks ago that Japanese courts upheld a national ban on same-sex marriages—ruling them unconstitutional. 

“We introduced the Partnership System in March 2021 as one initiative based on this philosophy. Although same-sex marriages are not currently recognised under Japanese law, this system ensures employees who are in a domestic partnership with a same-sex partner have the same benefits as employees in an opposite-sex marriage. We have also established that a common-law marriage between couples will be observed in the same way as a legal marriage,” wrote Nintendo in their CSR report.

On 20 June, the ruling of the Osaka court found that “under the constitution the definition of marriage did not extend to partnerships between people of the same gender”. Japan remains the only Group of Seven (G7) country that has not recognised either same-sex civil unions or same-sex marriage at a national level. However, some parts Japan issue partnership certificates that grant some rights to same-sex couples.

Nintendo Japan says that its Code of Conduct has already established that they “do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, nationality, ideology, religion, creed, origin, social status, class, occupation, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity”. It also introduced a “Partnership System” which aims to “create a work environment that supports and empowers each and every one of our unique employees”.

In addition to the Partnership System, Nintendo says that it has revised its internal regulations regarding harassment to clearly prohibit discriminatory comments based on sexual orientation or gender identity. They also prohibit disclosing someone’s privately held sexual orientation against their will.

“By improving our company systems and conducting training, we will continue our work to create an environment where each of our many diverse employees can fully realise their talents,” added Nintendo.

Even though Japan doesn’t recognise same-sex marriages, homosexuality has been legal there since 1880. Compared to most Asian countries, Japan is “relatively liberal”. But it falls behind Taiwan—which became the first place in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage since 2019, and Thailand, which is close to legalising same-sex unions when lawmakers passed four different bills aiming to provide greater rights to gay couples.

[ SOURCE, IMAGE SOURCE ]